Search

My Other Blog

My NYT Bestseller!

What's a Wreck?

A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

Alert Wreckporter Marjorie M. found this article detailing a Wreck interrupted. It's about a ShopRite in New Jersey refusing to write a three-year-old's name on his birthday cake. Why? Because the boy is named Adolf Hitler Campbell, and his parents insisted on his full name being on the cake. (His sister is named Aryan Nation. Need I say more?)

Tragic, yes, but little Adolf isn't the only one getting a bad name. Check out this photo caption:In case you can't read that, it says "Young Adolf Hitler Campbell will be getting a cake from Wal-Mart this year."

Poor Wal-Mart.

Hey, you think they'll get the swastikas right?

Nah, me neither.

NOTE: I have no idea if Wal-Mart wrote the inscription or not. In fact, I actually feel bad for the store having its name associated with this...family. Not as bad as I feel for little Adolf and Aryan, of course, but still pretty bad. After all, Cake Wrecks has a LOT to thank the Wal-Mart bakery department for. ;)

UPDATE: I'm shutting down comments now; I think everyone has said their piece, and I'm tired of filtering out all the antisemitic comments and haters calling for these people's blood. As some of you have said, these folks are out for free publicity, so we shouldn't give them the satisfaction of endlessly debating it. I really only included it here as an interesting aside to the world of wrecked cakes. Now, moving on...

Reader Comments (150)

That's akin to child abuse, giving your children names like that. As a Jewish person, I of course, am completely offended and digusted and believe that any store should have the right to refuse to service these folks but then again, the poor kids, you're screwed either way.

Wow, that is soo loving. I think I'll also put my agenda before the welfare of my children.

Aren't you supposed to want to protect your children from undue strife and difficulty? OK, so choose names that will cause consistent and most likely negative attention to their kids. Ah, and to think, the parents names are probably something like John and Jane.

Hey at least the kids have some options: like self defense classes or legally changing their names after 18 years of hell...

OMG. Birthday cakes are the least of these kid's problems. I think those names should be enough to indicate that Child & Protective Services needs do something to protect these poor children from their parents.

I'd be rather inclined not to link my products to that family, personally. Of course it isn't the kids' fault that their parents are lunatics, but the parents are also fools if they think that their name choices will never cause any trouble for those kids or themselves.

There are three kids in that family: JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell and Adolf Hitler Campbell. The ShopRite in question denied the order because they have Jewish employees and employees who lost family members in WWII, and it was more important to the store to support their values and employees than to make a few bucks off the cake.

I think the parents were trying a little too hard to be offensive; just how often do you actually see a cake with a kid's first AND middle name on it? It's not fair that such a little cutie-pie has to be saddled with such trash for parents.

How common is it for customers to request a full name on a birthday cake? I've seen a few cakes with the recipient's first and middle names together, but I've never seen one with the first, middle and last name on the cake.

In Germany, the office of vital statistics (Standesamt) has to agree to register the name parents pick for a child; if they refuse to, the parents can appeal but German name law is pretty strict. There, a child's name has to reflect the sex of the child and must not endanger the well-being of the child. I remember marveling at that in German class in college.

WV: dialions. Sounds like the episode of South Park where Cartman got his eyes "dialated" (sic) by a malicious eye doctor that kept calling him 'piggy'.

OMG how awful! I would refuse too! I feel sorry for those kids because God knows how they'll turn out! And the boy is so cute too! I'm not Jewish myself and my husband is, but anyone would find that disturbing!

"We believe the request ... to inscribe a birthday wish to Adolf Hitler is inappropriate," said Karen Meleta, a ShopRite spokeswoman.

Did the store even understand what they were refusing to do? Not that I'm defending the family, but it seems that the upper level management might not have understood that that it wasn't a novelty cake. Or if they did, their public statement is poorly phrased.

Well, Trevor, it may have been a temporary reprieve, rather than a full on Wreckus Interruptus, as it seems these misbeggoten excuses for humans are going to get their cake somewhere else.

Coitus interruptus (permanent) would have been the way to go, though, as this cake issue will be an annual event multiplied by the number of children the parents (I use the term loosely) produce. I also think the cake hullabaloo is the least of the offensive brouhahas that will be intentionally caused by these alleged parents.

I think that the best part of this is the picture of the little fella. Is it just me or is his hair dyed blonde? And I could not get a very good look, but I am pretty sure that those eyes are brown!! Not exactly a specimin of the 'Aryan Race.'

Its unfortunate that the children are victims of the parents' prejudice, and more unfortunately, it is likely to be perpetuated through them.

Adolf Hitler is not the child's actual name-- the white supremacist father merely wants the publicity. Shoprite offered to write the name on the cake if the father could prove the child's name with a birth certificate.

I'm ashamed that there are still people out there who can't see past race or religion or any other bias. I can only hope that one day, these kids realize how messed up their parents are and change their names!

There aren't many things that can be said about this situation... I feel horrible for these children because they will be ridiculed when they get to school age. Not only that, after reading the article and looking at the pictures from the family's home, it looks like these children will also be raised in an environment full of the negative teachings of the Nazis... Others have said this and I will repeat it... It's sad...

More than likely the idiot parents are, and the children will grow up to be much less a danger than your average ghetto american. Probably less a danger than four really irate bees. New Jersianites should have a greater fear of shark attacks than idiot nazi-wannabes.

Jen, I hope you're ready to get bombarded by lunatics. Those bastards are relentless.

Any private business is well withing its rights to decide what it will or will not put on a customized product. If someone had asked for a whimsical image of figures in white robes and pointy hoods standing around a hangman's noose and a burning cross, should they have complied? Or a smiley face over the image of the burning World Trade Center for a 9/11 party? How about an image of a dismembered woman, or an aborted fetus?

What cretins. Too bad New Jersey doesn't have much in the way of children & youth services to get these kids out of this toxic environment.

Jenny Whiskey, you folks from New York and New Jersey certainly have shipped a lot of your trash to Pennsylvania. But don't worry, we're planning on sending it right back to your pristine shores.

And I thought my mom's friend was a little wonky for not thinking of her daughters initials when they names her. A.S.S... Anyway... These parents clearly are just craving the media. I agree, no one gets a full name put on the cake. These parents are ridiculous and I don't really care if Shop Rite wanted to make the cake or not. The parents should take all the blame on this one. Poor little birthday boy. I hope his parents didn't ruin his birthday with all the fuss they made.